ORGANIZATION
The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high-impact social enterprises. The world urgently needs transformational entrepreneurs and their organizations to take on society’s most complex challenges with innovative pathways to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. We know that these early-stage unrestricted investments, dedicated to exceptional entrepreneurs who see the possible, are the building block for profound, lasting positive change.
Our model is borrowed from our venture capital legacy. We find, fund, and support exceptional entrepreneurs and partner with them to help their organizations scale and reach their fullest potential. We fund mission-driven, non-profit and for-profit organizations with three-year unrestricted funding as we believe: 1) unrestricted capital fuels essential capacity building and innovation in growing organizations, and 2) multi-year funding, as opposed to a one-time grant, is critical to enabling early-stage organizations to achieve scale. We target organizations that are well positioned to reach 10,000 lives or more within five years of operation and with the probability of impacting 1,000,000 lives or more over ten years and clear visibility towards systems change thereafter.
Critical to realizing this potential is sourcing the best social enterprises through building deep and trusted relationships and partnerships, all the while cultivating networks, both new and existing, that are likely to produce exceptional investment opportunities for our DRK model to drive catalytic impact. This position requires strong relationship building and senior level presence to engage with high-level leaders, funders, policy makers, and other key stakeholders across sectors.
Once we find and fund organizations, we provide our entrepreneurs with rigorous support; taking a board seat for three years, often serving as the first truly “outside” board member. We mentor and coach the entrepreneurs and help them to build the capacity of their board and their teams. For almost 20 years, we have helped our portfolio organizations scale promising social ventures. As board members and close partners, we are capacity builders, strategic partners, and scaling enablers. We are a support team working to strengthen fundraising, build strong and generative governance boards, develop strong leaders, reinforce strategies, cultivate strong and diverse teams, improve organizational effectiveness, and more. We have worked side-by-side as investors and board members for Kiva, Room To Read, One Acre Fund, Cowtribe, Last Mile Health, Living Goods, SIRUM, Braven, Detroit Justice Center and over 180 other organizations working around the globe and across a wide range of social and environmental issues.
We are a high-energy, super curious, low-ego, and inclusive team motivated by a shared commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable populations and leveraging our individual and collective skills to advance compelling organizations and committed leaders. With a deep appreciation for one another and the diversity of perspectives and expertise that each member of the team brings to DRK, we work in close partnership to find, fund and support some of the world’s most high impact, early-stage social ventures.
We are deeply committed to a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone is welcomed, valued and supported. We know that a diverse workforce allows us to see problems in more nuanced ways, creating the thought leadership needed to find, fund and support entrepreneurs and organizations who can change the world. We actively recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. DRK is an equal opportunity employer and encourages people from all experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.
The Foundation is chaired by legendary venture capitalists William H. Draper III and Robin Richards Donohoe and former HBS Professor and Vice-Chair of Goldman Sachs and current CEO of Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, Robert Kaplan and funded by legendary investors and foundations committed to making a difference in the lives of others.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation is looking for a Senior Director of Sourcing to proactively search for pipeline partners and specific deal opportunities, and lead our outreach to help find, fund, and support early-stage social enterprises that help solve the world’s biggest problems. This person will have a senior role at the Foundation responsible for intentional outreach and building ongoing relationships with targeted funders, sector partners, accelerators, universities, and incubators for the Foundation. This person will also seek out new relationships and opportunities focused on specific problems and ecosystems including critical access points to health and mental health services, education, economic opportunity, social justice, and community development to name just a few. In every case, we do our work with gender and racial equity lenses being sure we are proactively finding opportunities and leaders proximate to the issues. The right person is passionate, a self-starter, drives to goals, enthusiastic, energetic and driven by the ability to surface and qualify hundreds of opportunities for DRK funding and support consideration. This role serves as a senior ecosystem builder who owns the earliest stage of identification and assessment of opportunities and provides a clear understanding to sourcing partners of what we are looking for, steeped in our work of impact at scale.
Some of the responsibilities include:
● Networking and building relationships that lead to a strong pipeline of investment
opportunities.
● Serving as the lead resource and a hub of sourcing activities at DRK, coordinating with
other team members.
● Actively generating and managing high-quality and large quantities of robust
investment opportunities.
● Creating opportunities to showcase DRK’s work to potential partners by
identifying/participating in an expanded list of forums.
● Organizing small convenings of subject matter experts to deepen understanding of
issue areas and bring potential sourcing partners.
● Mapping geography and issue areas across the entire organization and sourcing for
gaps in our portfolio through direct relationships, networks, etc.
● Creating a calendar of engagement for each partner relationship to keep DRK top of
mind for investment referrals.
● Performing an early review of a deal potential with our deal team.
● Scanning for new follow-on funding partners for DRK portfolio organizations and
building ongoing relationships in partnership with DRK Managing Directors.
● Identifying and making initial outreach to potential donor partners for DRK.
● Looking for innovative opportunities to build donor communities for DRK organizations.
REPORTING RELATIONSHIP: Stephanie Khurana, Managing Partner and COO with
significant engagement with Jim Bildner, CEO
CANDIDATE SPECIFICATION: KEY SELECTION CRITERIA
We are looking for a seasoned executive with the ability to develop wide networks and
manage many relationships and who can identify and attract the most promising
opportunities for DRK. The successful candidate will possess many of the following
professional and personal abilities, attributes, and experiences:
● Demonstrated passion for and commitment to Draper Richards Kaplan’s mission
through experience in one or more of the following areas:
– Senior-level leadership experience and presence and access to key leaders and
influencers with the ability to build trust and deeper relationships over time
– Demonstrated experience of having a keen eye and good judgement for promising
opportunities for investment and/or partnership development with mission-driven
organizations
– Track record for sourcing and building a strong portfolio of partnerships or
organizations, including outside of traditional or known networks
● Ability to develop relationships with key influential players to probe into the systemslevel components at the root of societal problems and across a wide range of issue
areas including poverty, climate change, wealth inequality, racial injustice, education
and health inequities, etc.
● Demonstrated ability to connect with people and organizations across a diversity of
backgrounds, perspectives and lived experiences, and proximate to the core issue areas
of focus.
● Brings a large network and has the ability to cultivate and identify “connectors” and
partners to our work.
● Takes an investigative approach to finding the best opportunities within these spaces,
with a discerning eye towards strong talent and organizational models that can scale.
● Deep sector experience in the social sector, including criminal justice, government
advocacy or policy, and community organizing experience.
● A commitment to social-impact or mission-driven work.
● A proven track record of working with entrepreneurs of early-stage start-ups.
● Experience in financial services or private equity with the ability to evaluate potential
investments for fit with DRK’s investment criteria.
● Experience in an entrepreneurial, independent, fast-paced environment.
● Demonstrated experience in building and managing professional relationships. A
collegial and team-building approach.
● Significant management positions of increasing complexity and responsibility.
● The ability to actively listen, with an appreciation for nuance in communications, and
with an orientation to reaching understanding through a lens of justice, equity,
diversity, inclusion and belonging.
● A strong commitment to the social sector and current affiliations with social sector
networks.
● Outstanding analytical skills. Demonstrated ability to quickly assess situations, identify
trends, develop solutions, and translate insights into action.
● Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to represent Draper
Richards Kaplan Foundation and portfolio organizations in a professional, engaging, and
dynamic manner.
● A curious and creative intellect and a style that includes flexibility, levelness, and a
sense of humor. Relentless customer orientation and an eagerness to “roll-up one’s
sleeves” without a lot of oversight and direction.
● A graduate degree such as an MBA, MPP, JD, or Ph.D.
COMPETENCIES:
● Capability to assess a high volume of new ideas or opportunities.
● Ability to perform early diligence on investment opportunities.
● A natural networker and relationship builder.
● Brings innovation to processes and practices.
LOCATION:
DRK has primary offices in Boston, San Francisco, Menlo Park, and the Netherlands. We are
flexible with the location for this position.
To apply or for inquiries, please contact Nancy Huang at nhuang@drkfoundation.org.
As the Manager of Communications and Digital Strategy at NVCA, Devin plays a central role in NVCA’s communications operation, communicating with key constituencies in the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as enhancing NVCA’s brand in Washington, D.C. Devin develops and executes on the organization’s communications and public relations strategies and creates media content to support them.
